To the Editor: The Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant was allowed to fall into a shameful state of collapse by Tom Suozzi, Jeff Tobak and the Legislature’s Democrats for over a decade. Sewage spewed into our waterways, and the DEC handed out environmental violations left and right. Legislator Howard Kopel and County Executive Ed Mangano worked hand inhand with Councilman Anthony Santino to refurbish and rehabilitate the Bay Park plant they found teetering on the verge of collapse. They invested over $130 million in operations and odor controls. The plant operated for the longest time without any incidents reported to the DEC — before Sandy crippled the facility. Now, the Legislature’s Democratic minority continues to obstruct the much-needed upgrades and repairs to the Sandy-damaged plant. That’s enough for me to vote Republican. While Kopel’s opponent, Lisa Daniels, asks our neighbors to follow the money, and ridiculously claims repairs began close to a decade ago, all you need to do is follow your nose instead. Something just doesn’t smell right about her untrue, partisan talking points. We need to support Kopel, Mangano and Santino for re-election. They support us and keep working to improve our quality of life. My family and I are.Gary Aue East Rockaway

Local leaders deserve our gratitude

To the Editor: The amount of anger being directed at our political leaders since Hurricane Sandy is well deserved. The hell we went through because of FEMA’s incompetence is a punishment I don’t wish on my worst enemy. There isn’t a single person I know who wasn’t put through the ringer by insurance companies, adjusters, crooked contractors — I could go on. But I will say that people who blame our local leaders are flat-out wrong and have no right to fault them. I saw almost every single leader in this area at least once during the days and weeks after Sandy. I must have seen Councilman Anthony Santino a dozen times, and the same can be said for Supervisor Kate Murray, Legislator Howard Kopel and both East Rockaway Mayor Fran Lenahan and the village board.

Comments

The Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant has been in disarray for years (long before and long after Suozzi was in office).

How could Suozzi, who was in office for all of eight years, have allowed the plant to fall into a shameful state of collapse for DECADES? Last I checked a decade was 10 years and DECADES would imply 20 years. The math just doesn't work.

The plant has been in a state of disrepair under a healthy mix of Democrats and Republicans: Purcell, Gulotta,Suozzi and Mangano. One even wanted to sell the system to a private company. The worst part of all this, is that neither side is talking about what is really needed at the plant: an outfall pipe.

No one person is to blame for the sorry state of the sewage system, it's the system itself that's to blame. Unqualified, politically appointed cronies get cushy jobs and ignore the problem until they can cash in their taxpayer funded pension. No accountability. The Republicans do it and the Democrats do it, too.

Maybe the real sources of the stink in Bay Park are the politicians in Hempstead and Mineola.

They know the facts, and this is clearly campaign material more than letters from concerned citizens. Gary Aue happens to be the Supervisor of Street Lighting working for Santino. Need I say more? Well I will.

Anyone can easily do a Google search to find that the Bay Park Plant leaked in 2010, and that the DEC sued the County and got a $1 million settlement for the leak that took place on the Republican watch (Mangano, Kopel, even Santino who claims to fight so hard for East Rockaway). They were so busy trying to sell the plant in some scheme to borrow money without NIFA's approval, that they did nothing to complete the repairs Suozzi started in 2008. After NIFA nixed privatization and Mangano wasted two years of precious repair time, Mangano's office admitted that they had money left over from Suozzi's repair plan. They didn't spend it on the plant, that's for sure. Yes, something stinks here, but it isn't Daniels' claims. And there are engineer reports that say the plant would have sustained more of Hurricane Sandy if it wasn't so badly neglected when the storm hit.

Jeff Toback, who hasn't been in office in four years but who seems to have been resurrected in this election, was the first person who talked about an outfall pipe, and he was crucified for it. Now people are coming around that it was the right plan. And by the way, the sewage from the Five Towns does in fact come to Bay Park. Didn't I see some mail piece from Santino saying that he stopped it, that he said No? Well it's here.

Kopel is never really present, he hasn't done anything for us, and he seems to want to relax in Florida more than he wants to be our legislator. There is no question that he was absent during and after Sandy. There is an article in Newsday by Celeste Hadrick dated November 18, 2012 where he admits that he was at his Florida vacation home in Boynton Beach, Florida with his wife before Sandy, and that he didn't come back. Why didn't he drive or take a train? If Kopel wanted to be here with us in the aftermath of the storm, he could have gotten back. He obviously didn't care enough to make the effort. Daniels has made some valid accusations, none of which denote that she was raised improperly. Santino, now there's another story entirely. Why doesn't he stop sending out campaign mail and propaganda on the taxpayers dime?

I agree with PaulScott, let's clean house on Election Day! They all stink!

After receiving the most disgusting, vile advertisement using the death of a small child, I would never ever ever vote for Kopel. I had to look at it twice to see if I was actually reading what I was holding in my hand. Shame on you for hiding behind the death of a two year old to get reelected.If thats all you got, you don't deserve the job

I love the mailers that show Suozzi standing in actual raw sewage and the spin on it that he may actually enjoy the sewage that spilled out in East Rockaway. It's so disgusting how dumb and short-sided they think we all are. It will be a long long time before I ever vote Republican again. Get them out!

Truthteller!! I saw that Kopel ad today and was FLOORED. How can they get away with using a dead child, killed by a monster, and say Lisa Daniels is responsible??? I thought about it all day, and am looking into reporting this somehow to an ethics committee. Is there even one? I know that political mail needs to have a disclaimer to show who paid for it, and both Kopel and Mangano ads are missing them. This is shady and appalling. How do they sleep at night??